Privacy-safe frequency distribution of geo-features for mobile devices

Abstract

A device's location and an identifier corresponding to the device are received. The device's location is privatized by mapping it to landmarks proximate to the device's location, storing the proximate landmarks in association with the device's identifier, and discarding the received location data. The proximate landmarks are featurized to generate a model which is used to determine a value of the advertising opportunity corresponding to a target identifier.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method, comprising:
 privatizing, by a server, geographic location information, comprising:
 for each of a plurality of devices:
 receiving a location and an identifier corresponding to a respective device; 
 mapping the location to at least one proximate landmark; 
 storing the at least one proximate landmark in association with the identifier; and 
 discarding the received location; 
 
 
 generating, by the server, a proximate geo model, comprising:
 featurizing the stored proximate landmarks to generate a set of geo model features; and 
 training a model using the geo model features; and 
 
 responsive to receiving, by the server and from an ad exchange, a bid request and a target identifier corresponding to an advertising opportunity, and to receiving a record of proximate landmarks associated with the target identifier:
 applying the proximate geo model to the record of proximate landmarks associated with the target identifier to determine a value of the advertising opportunity to an advertising campaign; and 
 returning, to the ad exchange, a bid amount based on the determined value; 
 wherein the time passage between receiving the bid request and returning the bid amount is a fraction of a second. 
 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein a proximate landmark is within a pre-determined radius around the corresponding location. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 1 , wherein at least one proximate landmark is a type of business. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1 , wherein at least one proximate landmark is a type of natural feature. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , wherein featurizing the stored proximate landmarks comprises featurizing the proximate landmarks by frequency. 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 1 , wherein featurizing the stored proximate landmarks comprises featurizing the proximate landmarks that are most strongly correlated to converters. 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 1 , wherein featurizing the stored proximate landmarks comprises:
 receiving a list of landmarks of interest to an advertiser; and 
 featurizing the stored proximate landmarks that correspond to landmarks on the list of landmarks of interest to the advertiser. 
 
     
     
       8. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing processor-executable computer program instructions that, when executed, cause a computer processor to perform a method, the method comprising:
 privatizing, by a server, geographic location information, comprising:
 for each of a plurality of devices:
 receiving a location and an identifier corresponding to a respective device; 
 mapping the location to at least one proximate landmark; 
 storing the at least one proximate landmark in association with the identifier; and 
 discarding the received location; 
 
 
 generating, by the server, a proximate geo model, comprising:
 featurizing the stored proximate landmarks to generate a set of geo model features; and 
 training a model using the geo model features; and 
 
 responsive to receiving, by the server and from an ad exchange, a bid request and a target identifier corresponding to an advertising opportunity, and to receiving a record of proximate landmarks associated with the target identifier:
 applying the proximate geo model to the record of proximate landmarks associated with the target identifier to determine a value of the advertising opportunity to an advertising campaign; and 
 returning, to the ad exchange, a bid amount based on the determined value; 
 wherein the time passage between receiving the bid request and returning the bid amount is a fraction of a second. 
 
 
     
     
       9. The medium of  claim 8 , wherein a proximate landmark is within a pre-determined radius around the corresponding location. 
     
     
       10. The medium of  claim 8 , wherein at least one proximate landmark is a type of business. 
     
     
       11. The medium of  claim 8 , wherein at least one proximate landmark is a type of natural feature. 
     
     
       12. The medium of  claim 8 , wherein featurizing the stored proximate landmarks comprises featurizing the proximate landmarks by frequency. 
     
     
       13. The medium of  claim 8 , wherein featurizing the stored proximate landmarks comprises featurizing the proximate landmarks that are most strongly correlated to converters. 
     
     
       14. The medium of  claim 8 , wherein featurizing the stored proximate landmarks comprises:
 receiving a list landmarks of interest to an advertiser; and 
 featurizing the stored proximate landmarks that correspond to landmarks on the list of landmarks of interest to the advertiser. 
 
     
     
       15. A system comprising:
 a processor; and 
 a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing processor-executable computer program instructions that, when executed, cause a computer processor to perform a method, the method comprising:
 privatizing, by a server, geographic location information, comprising:
 for each of a plurality of devices:
 receiving a location and an identifier corresponding to a respective device; 
 mapping the location to at least one proximate landmark; 
 storing the at least one proximate landmark in association with the identifier; and 
 discarding the received location; 
 
 
 generating, by the server, a proximate geo model, comprising:
 featurizing the stored proximate landmarks to generate a set of geo model features; and 
 training a model using the geo model features; and 
 
 responsive to receiving, by the server and from an ad exchange, a bid request and a target identifier corresponding to an advertising opportunity, and to receiving a record of proximate landmarks associated with the target identifier:
 applying the proximate geo model to the record of proximate landmarks associated with the target identifier to determine a value of the advertising opportunity to an advertising campaign; and 
 returning, to the ad exchange, a bid amount based on the determined value; 
 wherein the time passage between receiving the bid request and returning the bid amount is a fraction of a second. 
 
 
 
     
     
       16. The system of  claim 15 , wherein a proximate landmark is within a pre-determined radius around the corresponding location. 
     
     
       17. The system of  claim 15 , wherein at least one proximate landmark is a type of business. 
     
     
       18. The system of  claim 15 , wherein at least one proximate landmark is a type of natural feature. 
     
     
       19. The system of  claim 15 , wherein featurizing the stored proximate landmarks comprises featurizing the proximate landmarks by frequency. 
     
     
       20. The system of  claim 15 , wherein featurizing the stored proximate landmarks comprises featurizing the proximate landmarks that are most strongly correlated to converters. 
     
     
       21. The system of  claim 15 , wherein featurizing the stored proximate landmarks comprises:
 receiving a list of landmarks of interest to an advertiser; and 
 featurizing the proximate landmarks that correspond to landmarks on the landmarks of interest to the advertiser.